President hopes to copy Bush and give successor space to govern
He is ready for some quiet time, plans to do some writing and intends to give his successor space to govern, at least on most issues.
US President Barack Obama gave some insight into his vision for life after the White House during a final news conference on Wednesday in which he praised the role of a free press and shared personal reflections on how his daughters had dealt with the results of the 2016 election.
Obama and his family will leave for Palm Springs, California, on Friday after the inauguration of Republican Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United States.
“I want to be quiet a little bit and not hear myself talk so darn much,” said Obama, 55, who wants to write a book during his first year out of office and spend time with his family.
Obama, a Democrat who made history in 2008 when he was elected the country’s first black president, has said repeatedly he appreciated the example set by his predecessor, Republican George W. Bush, who steadfastly refrained from weighing in publicly with his views after leaving the Oval Office.
Hope, resilience
But Obama made clear there were some issues on which he would not hesitate to speak out — issues “where I think our core values may be at stake”, like new obstacles to voting, “institutional efforts to silence dissent or the press” and any push to deport undocumented people who were brought to the United States as children.
In 2012, Obama said his administration would allow people brought to the US illegally by their parents to remain in the country on temporary authorizations that allow them to attend college and work — one of the executive actions on immigration that Trump has pledged to undo.
“The notion that we would just arbitrarily or because of politics punish those kids, when they didn’t do anything wrong themselves, I think would be something that would merit me speaking out,” Obama said.
The Obamas will live in Washington, where Sasha, 15, is finishing high school. Malia, 18, has been accepted to Harvard University but is taking a “gap year” break before starting this autumn.
The president and his wife, Michelle Obama, campaigned hard for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton last year. The first lady, in particular, made an impassioned case for Clinton, her husband’s first secretary of state, after a leaked recording showed Trump talking openly about groping women.
Obama said his daughters did not “mope” or feel cynical after the loss.
“They were disappointed. They paid attention to what their mom said during the campaign and believed it because it’s consistent with what we’ve tried to teach them in our household,” Obama said.
“But what we’ve also tried to teach them is resilience, and we’ve tried to teach them hope, and that the only thing that is the end of the world is the end of the world.”
walks away after his final presidential news conference in Washington
EU leaders on Wednesday welcomed clarity from the United Kingdom over what it wants from Brexit talks, with Germany’s Angela Merkel promising a united front in what will be “very intensive” negotiations.
Responding to Prime Minister Theresa May’s speech on Tuesday that made clear that Britain would quit the European Union’s single market, Merkel welcomed the fact that London had accepted that free movement of EU citizens was not something it could opt out of without losing other EU rights.
“There cannot be any cherry picking by Britain in Brexit negotiations,” Merkel told an economic conference, adding that access to the bloc’s single market was ultimately linked to accepting the EU’s four freedoms — of movement of goods, capital, people and services.
May’s speech “has given us a clear impression of how Great Britain wants to proceed”, Merkel said at a joint news conference with Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni.
“The main thing is that Europe does not let itself be divided and we will make sure of that via very intensive dialogue,” Merkel said.
Gentiloni said the EU was “ready to discuss the issue with the correct approach, which is in solidarity and friendship with the UK”.
A spokesman for the German Finance Ministry said London’s vision for implementing Brexit could prove to be “pretty complicated” given that Britain would have no “EU passport” to conduct financial transactions once it left EU.
Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said he feared the two-year negotiation period may not be enough.
“Everybody needs to think through the timetable for these negotiations because in practice we have actually not more than perhaps one-and-a-half years, perhaps a little bit more,” Lofven said.
“Autumn 2018, that is a very, very short time for these complex negotiations, so I think that the UK ... is a bit optimistic (on the) timetable.”
‘Not in a hostile mood’
While European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said EU negotiators were “not in a hostile mood” toward Britain, Slovakia’s prime minister said the EU had to ensure London did not win a deal that would be to the detriment of the remaining 27 members.
“I am convinced that in no case will a future agreement be more favorable for Great Britain than current membership in the EU,” Robert Fico said.
“Negotiations over Brexit will be very tough and painful and it would be wrong if (remaining EU members) emerged weaker and Britain stronger.”
A Donald Trump waxwork was unveiled on Wednesday at Madame Tussauds museum in London, complete with his signature suntan — and yak hair.
Dressed in a navy suit, white shirt and red tie, the wax figure of Trump was placed in a mock-up of the White House’s Oval Office.
With a United States flag lapel pinned to his suit jacket, the model stands with his hands to his waist and a somber look on his lined face.
Specialists were brought in to weave yak hair into Trump’s scalp, while makeup artists went about creat- The main thing is that Europe does not let itself be divided and we will make sure of that via very intensive dialogue.” Angela Merkel, German chancellor